Enterprise Squared
by Bob Regent
Summary: What if the Enterprise C was unable to return to the past? What does the reality of a war torn Federation really look like? Abandoned
1. Chapter 1

Enterprise Squared

By Ash's Boomstick and LightningCount

Disclaimer: Trek and it's incarnations belong to the Estate of Gene Roddenbury and not Brainless and Brainless like they wish it did, Paramount own the rights to show the stuff and if they had any sense they would have tied B&B to a stake and set fire to them.

Federation/Klingon border, 2346.

Starship _USS Enterprise NCC 1701-C_

"All I am saying is that synthahol is the way of the future."

"You aren't serious!" Lieutenant Castillo almost laughed. "Synthahol will never replace good old alcohol."

Lieutenant Genevieve Vosseau gave him a glare from the Operations console, the helmsman returning it with a twinkle of amusement in his eye. "When I have a night out I want to remember it in the morning."

"Well when I have a night out I am glad to forget it." Castillo replied. "The ones I do remember I wish I'd drunk enough to forget!"

"If you drank Synthahol you wouldn't have to worry about not being able to hold your drink." The French woman smiled with a hint of mischief.

"Now that is asking for trouble." Castillo grinned. "When this shift ends you and I are going to have a little contest."

"You know I never lose." Genevieve retorted. "What is the bet?"

"I'll do your laundry for a month." Castillo offered. "If you can down ten shots of real drink before I do."

"I fell almost sorry for you, but I accept." She grinned. "It's a date."

When she said 'date' Castillo knew he was turning a bright shade of red and returned his look to the Helm console. He like most of the rest of the male crew had been entranced by the operations officer since her arrival on the _Enterprise_ three months ago.

More than a dozen officers had tried to make a move on the raven haired Lieutenant and all had failed miserably, but now to his everlasting joy he had actually got her to accompany him on a date. Okay, it might not be an official romantic dinner and there might have been an element of bribery involved but from such unusual beginnings the best of futures could grow. He was feeling very optimistic.

"Captain on the bridge." The stern voice of Commander Barrow announced from his post at the science station.

"As you were." Captain Rachel Garrett waved the officer to relax, Barrow was a fairly crusty man in his forties who often seemed to fit the appearance of an old style school master, indeed his original training in the sciences netted him a job as a lecturer on Mars before he decided he wanted to see the galaxy and enlisted as a Starfleet science officer.

He had proven intelligent and adaptable as well as a good leader, if a little formal, which had earned him a place as first officer on the Federation flagship.

"All systems are at full efficiency." He reported.

"Anything show up on sensors?" Captain Garrett asked.

"No Ma'am, everything has been quiet." Barrow replied. "I ordered a diagnostic of the shield systems which should complete in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you Commander." She nodded and stepped forward into the centre of the bridge. For her this was a golden time, as Captain of any starship she was living a childhood dream but to command the _Enterprise_ itself was something else.

She hadn't even been born when the first ship of the class had earned fame under James T Kirk but she had been raised on those stories and followed the news net reports about the _Enterprise-B_ and it's long journeys of discovery. While many girls growing up wanted to be teachers or models she desired to command a starship, and through hard work and daring that was exactly what had happened.

She still remembered the day she was given the command of the _Enterprise_, leaving her old ship with a sense of deep regret but looking forward to the moment she took on her new role, the pinnacle of her career and a highlight of her life.

The shuttle had weaved through the same spacedock Kirk had once frequented, passing by the _Excelsiors_ and _Mirandas_ of the fleet until it crested over a docking pylon to reveal her new ship. Her breath had literally caught in her chest at the sight, the gleaming hull almost sparkling under the docks lights.

Every facet of the ship was perfect and she had been as nervous as a schoolgirl when she set foot on the vessel and read those immortal words on the dedication plaque, "_To boldly go where no one has gone before"_ It could have summed up her whole life.

The ship had barely been able to squeeze out the space dock doors and she almost panicked at the thought of damaging this magnificent vessel before she even left dock, but it had all worked out fine and the moment they hit warp was something she had never forgotten. Every day since then was a treat and this _Enterprise_ was living up to the reputation of its fore bearers, all she ever wanted to do was carry on the good name of the starship _Enterprise_.

She took her seat in the centre of the bridge and lost herself for a second in the racing stars shown on the viewscreen. "Where are we Mr Castillo?"

"Still on the Neutral zone Captain, not far from the Klingon and Romulan border."

She nodded slowly, they were patrolling an area of space at the convergence of the three major powers in this part of the galaxy, a flash point if ever there was one. Each of the powers had chilly relations with the others and maintained a cautious presence in the area.

After the Khitomer accords the Federation Neutral zone with the Klingons had been significantly demilitarised, the battle stations and response fleets were gone leaving a few outposts and sensor nets in their wake. This was mirrored on the Klingon side with a pleasantly empty looking border with few military facilities and just a few patrols.

However the Klingon and Romulan border was another matter, both sides had turned their frontier planets into fortresses and staging posts and that trend was continuing today. It was incredibly hard to get information on the Romulans but they seemed to be maintaining a powerful fleet on their side of the border forcing the Klingons to do the same.

The full extent of the mobilisation was unknown but Starfleet intelligence knew the Klingon economy was once more on a war footing.

Tension between all three powers was high, and while no overt moves had been made it was a distinct possibility war was brewing between the Klingons and Romulans, when the Federation had tried to set up diplomatic talks the envoys were coldly dismissed and told not to interfere.

The Klingon Empire were growing more and more isolated and the understanding and bonds forged at Khitomer were little more than a dusty memory. The deployment of the _Enterprise_ was a high profile response to this situation, Starfleet sending their most potent vessel to this sector was seen as a clear warning that the Federation would be ready if either power tried to breach its borders.

Unfortunately it was more symbolic than anything else. Federation defences were two generations out of date and even then would have been considered inadequate.

Major colony worlds had the advantage of a modern starbase and usually a guard fleet but even then the forces were too few and too widely dispersed. Starfleet had focused on multirole ships at the expense of more combat orientated designs and was also more interested in upgrading old ships in favour of large scale construction of new hulls solely for the sake of economics.

The venerable _Miranda_ class were still happily soldiering on a century after their first flight with modern sensors and engines, though their defences left much to be desired. Of course as a peaceful exploration force the weapons fits on these ships were not as important as they had been sixty years ago, they could defend themselves from any likely threat or retreat as required.

If Starfleet was to engage in a true war the council believed they would have enough notice to crash build a more militant fleet based on newer hulls, but until then it was a waste to build such a force.

"Any sign of our opposite number?" Garrett asked, for the past week a Klingon attack cruiser had been shadowing her command from the far side of the border.

"No Ma'am." Barrow replied. "We lost it a day ago and he hasn't shown up since."

"I guess they had something better to do." Vosseau said with a hint of wounded pride.

"We'll finish our sweep and head for Starbase ninety one." The Captain ordered. "I think we've done our bit out here, the _Hood_ will be deploying out here in a day and when she shows up we're all due for a full month's rest and overhaul."

That earned a few sighs of relief and gratitude, the _Enterprise_ had been on a long deployment this time most of it spent doing little more than shuffling up and down the neutral zone. They would all be glad of a well earned break.

The signal from the communication console didn't even register with Garret until the third beep, her smile slowly dropping as she watched Ensign Cassie Roome frantically trying to clear up a channel. She gave a worried glance to her Captain and Garrett felt her brief happiness evaporate.

"It's a distress signal Captain." Ensign Roome reported. "Klingon in origin."

The bridge quietened as every ear honed in on the communications officer and her report.

"Where from?" Garrett asked seriously.

"It's the colony on Narendra III, they say they are under attack." Roome continued. "Their sensors are gone and they don't know who is firing on them. They request immediate help from any ships in the sector."

Garrett held a long moment of silence, it was a deeply difficult dilemma. "Where is the Colony?"

"Just on the far side of the Neutral zone." Barrow informed her. "We can be there in minutes at full warp."

"Are there any Klingon ships in the area?"

"No Captain, not that we can detect." The first officer said. "But Captain they could be running under cloak."

"Why would they do that?" Castillo asked.

"To lure us into a trap." Barrow replied. "To draw us over the border with a fake distress signal and then claim we broke the treaty and destroy us. It'll be the _Kobayashi Maru_ for real."

"Or it could be genuine." Vosseau said. "They could be under attack and we stand by doing nothing."

All eyes were on Garrett, and yet she felt no discomfort and no pressure from her officers, her thoughts were bent solely on the validity of the distress signal. "Can we get a reading on sensors, are they under attack?"

"Too hard to tell at this range." Barrow consulted his console. "The area is being heavily jammed."

"Confirmed." Added Roome. "I doubt anyone else has even heard the distress signal, it's too weak to carry far."

"We're the only ones Captain, we must help!" Vosseau pleaded. "It is our duty to help and answer any distress call not just as Starfleet officers but as human beings!"

"Captain I urge caution, I don't like the look of this." Barrow countered. "This has all the hallmarks of a trap."

"Commander, did you ever take the _Kobayashi Maru_ test?" Garett inquired. "It has something of a legend to it doesn't it?"

"Yes Ma'am, and yes I took the test." He answered. "I guessed it was a trap and called in to Starfleet command for assistance."

"What happened?" Captain Garrett looked at him.

"I went in with four ships and defeated the Klingons, but not soon enough to save the ship."

She nodded. "I took the test too, and I went in straight away and got myself shot to pieces." She laughed slightly. "But I kept the ship fighting almost long enough for the _Maru_ to escape, Admiral Chekov tells me it was the longest anyone had lasted."

"Captain." Castillo spoke quietly. "What course shall I set Ma'am?"

Everyone watched her expectantly, some wanted to go, some didn't but she knew whatever she decided they would follow her orders. It came to one simple question, as a Starfleet officer could she ignore a distress signal? She didn't even have to think about it.

If it was a trap they would be ready to break and run but if it was real they would lose far more by ignoring it. It was no choice, it was the job she had set herself ever since she first heard the name _Enterprise_. That name, this ship, would not abandon civilians to death, no matter their race.

"Set your course for Narendra III Lieutenant, maximum warp."

With a snap of light the white and grey hull of the _Enterprise_ arrived in the Narendra system, its warp engines powering down but staying ready for a short emergency jump in case it was a trap. Within seconds of arriving they could see that it was all genuine.

"Energy readings from the third planet," Commander Barrow reported. "It's weapons fire, a ship in orbit."

"Get me a visual." Garrett ordered sharply, her actions and commands given speed and edge by the rising adrenalin.

On the main screen the image resolved to show a green starship with wide forward swept wings and a beak like prow holding station above a colony on the planet. It was surrounded by debris from a small space station and was currently swatting desperately attacking shuttles from the sky around it.

"Romulan Warbird." Commander Barrow confirmed.

"Open a channel." Garrett stood to give herself more presence. "This is Captain Rachel Garret of the Federation Starship _Enterprise_ to Romulan ships. You are attacking a civilian colony with no military value, stop at once and stand down."

She waited for a moment watching with growing frustration as the ship continued to fire on the colony coming close to breaking the shields.

"No response Captain." Ensign Roome reported.

"Guess we'll have to get their attention then." Garrett sighed. "Mr Castillo, intercept course. Mr Barrow, arm all weapons and prepare to attack, red alert all stations."

Alert sirens began to blare as the lighting dimmed throwing into contrast the blue and green of the ships displays. Bands of flashing red light ran circuits around the bridge as Garrett took her seat and the _Enterprise_ accelerated forward. The Romulan ship fired a few more shots and then broke orbit and set course for the Federation ship.

"Warbird on approach." Vosseau said rather unnecessarily.

"Continue trying to raise them Ensign." Garrett ordered. "Weapons status?"

"All weapons and shields ready and active Captain." Barrow reported. "Romulan ship is also fully armed but is not locking on."

"Well that's good news, right?" Castillo asked.

Warnings erupted from across the bridge snapping Garrett's head around. "Report!"

"Two more Romulan warbirds just decloaked on the port and starboard rear quarters!" Barrow yelled. "They're locking weapons!"

"Evasive action!" the Captain ordered "Engage warp immediately!"

The _Enterprise_ raised its bow and began to pull away, Garrett desperately hoping this was an intimidation technique and not a full scale attack. She was to be greatly disappointed.

The Romulans had hoped to trap a Klingon ship and see if they're latest weapons and cloaks would give them an edge in battle, with three to one odds just in case it didn't.

They hadn't expected a Federation ship but the Admiral running the operation decided now was a good time to see if their new weapons and cloaks would have the same affect on Starfleet as they would on the Klingons. He ordered the attack.

A massive volley of disruptor fire and torpedoes burst from the two rearward Warbirds hitting the aft shields of the _Enterprise_ as she moved out of the way. The impact was so intense it pushed the ship off course and caused damage to the warp engines through the shields. The nacelles buckled and went into emergency shut down while the warp core spiked under the sudden energy

absorption from Romulan weapons.

Engineering initiated emergency venting to keep the core from exploding, panels popped on the underside of the starship and drive plasma was shunted out in a brilliant stream of coloured cloud.

"Warp engines down!" Castillo shouted over the reverberating bridge, everything was shaking violently under the barrage.

"Aft shields failing!" Barrow warned. "Thirty percent and falling!"

"Return fire!" Garret yelled "Target nearest ship and engage!"

The phaser arrays on the top of the saucer section glowed and then fired. A fairly new technology they had better range and endurance than the older model phasers and lashed the shields of the closest Romulan ship.

At the same time a volley of red torpedoes rippled from the bow tubes and arched round towards the Warbird which had been hitting the planet battering its forward shields. In response the Warbird hit back putting a volley of its own into the lower shields of the _Enterprise_.

Vosseau's console sparked, and she had to quickly turn her head from the electronic surge running past the controls. Her left hand received som burns but she didn't have time for medical treatment and checked the station, most of the controls still worked and with a quick reset she was back in business. "Warp power decreasing, we're taking damage to engineering!"

"Roll axis Castillo!" Captain Garrett ordered, "Continuous fire all batteries!"

The _Enterprise_ was picking up speed and was starting to outpace the Romulans, but with damage to the power relays she was still handling far below full efficiency and the Romulans were capitalizing on that, surrounding the ship and hitting it from multiple angles.

Castillo did all he could but as he moved one critical shield section out of danger another Romulan ship came around to take advantage. "I can't out run them Captain, impulse power is bleeding away!"

The ship jolted as another impact crashed home, a warbird sweeping past within a dozen metres strobing disruptor bolts into the shields. Concentrated phaser fire exploited a weak spot in the Romulan shields and burned through scoring the hull as it passed, white gas and red flame leapt from the hole and the ship rolled away.

"Damage to the lead bird!" Barrow shouted in triumph. "She's altering course, hiding her flank."

"Stay on her!" Garrett said. "Where are the other two?"

"Forming up behind us." Vosseau reported curtly.

"Aft batteries keep them occupied, all forward weapons on that first Warbird."

The _Enterprise_ performed a sharp turn and closed on the damaged Romulan ship passing through the twinkling ice crystals of jetting atmosphere. The Warbird performed an evasive turn engaging with its rear facing disruptors but it couldn't out pace the Federation ship which stayed close behind it.

"Optimal firing range." Barrow reported.

"Mr Castillo, put us in position for an alpha strike." Garrett ordered with the calm focus of a woman with a plan.

The damaged ship flared its impulse engines briefly giving it an extra jolt of speed. It passed parallel to the warbird coming up on its unshielded flank, the damage from the first pass very apparent.

"In position!" Castillo called. "Performing combat turn!"

He cut power to forward engines and fired the RCS thrusters spinning the ships bow around so that the front of the _Enterprise_ pointed cleanly to the Romulan. Without forward thrust to keep it accelerating the Federation ship began to fall behind but not quick enough for the Romulan Warbird to reach safety.

"Concentrate weapons and fire." Garrett snarled.

A powerful volley of Phaser and torpedo fire pounded the Romulan ship through its unshielded side passing through the armour with no hindrance. Bright fire and wreckage erupted from the ship and scattered out in wide patterns bouncing off the _Enterprises _shieldsThe Romulan ship spun out of control with vast holes forming across its hull as secondary explosions tore it apart from the inside out, finally triggering the powerplant and consuming the ship in blazing light.

"Got him!" Castillo shouted with undisguised glee.

"Target the other two, quickly!" Garrett commanded.

The impact shook her from the chair, she grabbed the arm rests and steadied herself but couldn't prevent hitting the floor. Quickly she pulled herself back up as the lights flickered and power conduits whined and hummed. A small fire had started in the back of the bridge and an officer was grabbing an extinguisher to put it out.

"Dorsal shields have failed!" Barrow reported. "Romulans are coming in, targeting our bridge."

"Rolling to port, hang on." Castillo flipped the ship quickly as the Romulans fired, the volley striking the ships underside bringing those shields to the point of collapse too.

He kept the _Enterprise_ moving but it didn't matter where he turned now, they were all but defenceless. Another strike hit, curving through space and slicing into the undefended hull in a gout of flame and fractured hull plates, two light fittings on the bridge blew out dropping sparks and thick cables down on the heads of the crew.

Phaser banks returned a defiant fire but it was too little against two warbirds and while one ship broke off another was lining up to strike, laying energy pulses into the warp engines.

"Torpedo launchers offline!" Commander Barrow called in stunned acknowledgement, not quite believing all this was happening.

"We're losing main power!" Vosseau warned. "Phasers down to ten percent effectiveness!"

"They're coming around again, approaching from above and below." Barrow warned. "They've got us cornered."

The two Warbirds swept through space, engines glowing bright and wings grasping forward to the damaged Federation ship. They lined up for a simultaneous strike on the _Enterprise_ and opened fire.

A rain of green torpedoes and disruptor bolts bracketed the ship, piercing the hull and ripping apart the ships outer skin, mercilessly exposing the ships inner decks and corridors to space. Emergency forcefields flickered into life but did not last long as main power fluctuated and the core was shut down. Gusts of white atmosphere evacuated from a dozen hull breaches crystallizing in sparkling clouds glowing red with the continuous impacts.

Every new second brought two impacts, the Federation flagship was being pounded to a wreck by the swooping Romulans as scores of impacts struck home. Most punched through the armour but thanks to the ships complex subdivision there were few secondary explosions leaving internal damage surprisingly light for such an attack.

What little power was left was shunted to the containment fields in engineering to make sure a lucky hit did not trigger a core breach. The _Enterprise_ was wreathed in blossoming flame and spinning debris, its bright hull scorched and scarred by the assault. Even under this barrage it still managed a few bursts of return fire which the Romulan shields took without complaint.

A torpedo struck just behind the bridge with a massive explosion severing the secondary power feeds. Castillo was thrown forward by the jolt hitting his console hard, beams fell from the roof with a deafening crash and power flickered off leaving the bridge totally dark.

There was a second high pitched crash ad a wall panel gave way bringing down sections of the roof and maintenance hatches on the heads of the crew and littering the floor. Outside the two Warbirds passed by the _Enterprise_ flying past unchallenged and crossing by each other before looping away and leaving the ship still and silent for a few moments.

Slowly emergency batteries returned light to the bridge, the dim glow of consoles showing a dark scene choked with smoke. Garrett picked herself up barely recognizing her once pristine bridge now battered and broken.

"Damage report." She coughed as she fell into the chair, sharp pains wracking her chest. She had been hit by falling debris and could sense her strength beginning to leave her. "Commander?"

No answer came from the First officer, his post covered in broken panels and collapsed displays sparking and draped in wires. "Is anyone still at their station?"

"Captain." Castillo straightened up, his body aching and complaining. He took a deep breath and immediately choked on the acrid smoke. To his left the operations console was unattended and he couldn't see Lieutenant Vosseau anywhere. "We're virtually powerless, hull breaches on all outer decks. Weapons and shields are gone."

On the flickering viewscreen the Romulan ships had linked up, both of them swung around in a tight formation and once again locked onto the _Enterprise_. There was no way they could take another attack like that, the ship was barely operational as it was. They lined up and began charging weapons.

Captain Rachel Garrett knew death when she saw it, it wasn't the first time she had needed to fight but it did look a lot like the last time she would need to. Barrow had been right, it was the _Kobayashi Maru_ but even knowing that she would not have done anything different.

It had become a no win scenario but history would not judge her on how long she lasted against a Romulan fleet but on her reasons for putting her ship in danger in the first place. She had tried to save innocent lives and risked everything to do it, sadly she had failed but never gave up. She had sworn not to dishonour the name _Enterprise_ and hoped today she had succeeded.

"Mr Castillo, divert power to engines." Garrett sat back in the chair, she just didn't have the strength to sit straight. "Bring us about to face the Romulans head on."

The _Enterprise_ came about one more time putting its bow to the Romulan force racing in for the kill. Hull plates tore away and supports groaned as the structural integrity fields began to fail.

The bridge was utterly silent, it was usually filled with an ambient background noise of chirps and beeps from the bridge systems which was barely noticeable, but now conspicuous by their absence. Castillo could hear the distant engines roaring as the safety systems were overriden and they began to drive on into the path of the Romulans.

"Set a collision course for the lead ship." Garrett ordered calmly as if she were just putting in a request for breakfast. "Give me ramming speed."

"Aye Captain." Castillo entered the commands into the helm. "Ramming speed."

The Romulans held their course, perhaps not believing the Federation Captain had the nerve to try and ram them, or perhaps guessing they could destroy the ship before it got close enough. In either case they locked on and as one fired a staggering volley, a tide of energy pulses and torpedoes timed to arrive all at once at the _Enterprise's_ bow.

"Serving under you on this ship was my greatest honour Captain." Castillo watched the green energy rapidly closing.

"It was all I ever asked for in life, a good ship and a good crew." Garrett replied. "I was privileged to have both."

There was much more she wanted to do in life, much more she believed this ship and crew could have accomplished but all that was fading away in her mind now, none of it would happen.

But she took comfort in one thing; no one was going to forget what the _Enterprise_ did here today. She had maintained the proud history of the name and she could face her end in that knowledge. She even managed to smile.

The volley of torpedoes struck home in a massive blast, the world turned unusually bright and then in turn completely black.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

Federation Galaxy Class Battleship

Thirty-Three years later.

For a second a ship's crew were disoriented, their loss of faculties lasted barely a second before the obviously military ship snapped to action; the crew scanned their surrounding area, checking for anything that might be out of the ordinary.

The Enterprise had been on a standard patrol of the sector, the rest of the squadron had been dispatched to assist the Yamato battlegroup in the next sector against a full scale assault on Benzar controlled space, the Enterprise had been ordered to old the line until more reinforcements could be rushed in from other less hostile areas.

Now however the entire ship was at maximum readiness, something that allowed them to snap out of whatever had happened, each station was being tested and retested by their users with orders for other information being relayed across the entire ship.

"Status Report!" snapped Picard

"Operations, shipboards systems unaffected." Replied Data

"Conn, navigation unaffected, we're still where we should be sir." Ensign Wesley Crusher spoke up

"Tactical, Weapons and defensive systems active sir, full power to all systems." Lt Tasha Yar looked over her comprehensive control panels.

"Engineering, engines, power systems, everything is intact sir." Commander La Forge spoke up from the rear of the Bridge

"So what the hell hit us, Mr Data?"

"Unknown sir however it did not seem to affect our systems or ship's personnel for more than point three nine milliseconds, myself included."

"Some kind of Klingon weapon?" Riker asked?

"Unknown sir, insufficient information to make a hypothosis."

"Sir?" Tasha said from tactical."

"Lt?"

"Sir I'm reading something, some sort of fissure to our starboard."

With the ship already at Red Alert there was little for the ship's crew to get ready for, something that Picard was more than happy about, looking at the sensor returns of the operations board Data and Riker were attempting to clear up the interference.

"Sir." Riker Said, "There's a ship in the fissure."

"Can you identify the ship, Lieutenant? "Asked Picard "Is it an enemy vessel?"

Tasha attempted to scan the rift using her immensely overpowered tactical sensors, she looked up and shook her head

"I'm getting too much interference, Captain."

As they scanned the anomaly the interference while still there is dissipating, as such the ship within the anomaly is now much more visible, the look of the vessel is much like that of the larger ship, possibly a throwback to an earlier time, recognisable to those whom had been taught at the many academies Federationwide.

"It's clearing, Captain, definitely a Federation starship... accessing registry… N, C, C, one-seven-oh-one... C. U.S.S... Enterprise.

"Sensors confirm design and specifications, Captain. Analysis of hull and engine materials conform to engineering patterns and methods of that time period." Data said

"But that cruiser was destroyed with all hands about twenty years ago." Wesley replied

"Presumed destroyed. The Enterprise-C was last seen near the Klingon outpost on Narendra Three exactly twenty-two years, four months and three days ago."

"Mister Data, is it possible...that it has... traveled through time?" Asked Picard

"It is a possibility, Captain. If that is the correct hypothesis,then the phenomenon we just enountered was a temporal rift in space.

"A rift?"

"Possibly the formation of a Kerr loop from superstring material... it would require high-energy interactions occuring in the vicinity for such a structure to form. The rift is certainly not stable, Captain. It could collapse at any time."

"I'm able to scan the interior of the ship now, sir... heavy damage to warp field nacelles and hull bearing struts... internal spaceframe," Tasha squinted closely at her readouts in shock, We have Life-signs, Captain."

"Are you sure of that Lt?" Asked Riker

"Readings are sporadic... looks like they have massive casualties, but some are still alive Sir."

"Bridge to Sickbay. Emergency teams, stand by Transporter Rooms."

"Belay that order, Doctor." Countermanded Picard

"I respectfully suggest that regardless of how they did it, they are here now and they needour help." Riker answered back

"That ship has travelled into its own future. We are dealing with variables that could alter the flow of our own history." Picard countered

"But their influence on history has ended, sir. That ship disappeared from the pasttwenty-two years ago and neverreturned."

As both men are talking a signal interrupts Tasha's own thoughts on what was going on, as belies her professional tactical training, the young female Lt brings up the signal from her tactical board, one that was coming from the very ship in front of them.

"Captain, the Enterprise... C is sending out a distress call, sir. Audio only."

Picard merely nods his head and looks to the celing,the internal commsystem activates as a push of a button, a single female voice comes from the speakers, the distress call of a ship lost for over thirty years,

"This... is Captain Garrett of the Starship Enterprise, to any Federation ship. We have been

attacked by Romulan warships and require... immediate assistance. We have lost warp drive... life-support is failing." The distress call fades out.

"We have no record of a Romulan assault on the Enterprise-C..." Riker spoke aloud

"Voice message has ended, Captain. All I'm receiving now is their automated distress signal."

"Hailing frequency, Lieutenant. This is Captain Picard of... a Federation starship. Standby to receive emergency teams, Commander Riker assemble your teams and ready them for anything they may come across, this may be a Klingon or even a romulan trap, watch your back Number one."

"Will do sir, Tasha, Data with me."

"Sir?" Wesley said loudly, "We're receiving an all points message coming in from the local Starfleet monitor stations, Captain, Klingon battlecruisers have been reported moving toward this sector, Sir ETA is six hours.""

"There were no Klingon ships that close to this sector, synchronise the ship's systems with the nearest Starbase."

"That may take a few hours sir."

"Do it anyway, Maintain Battle alert, Mister Crusher, take us to condition yellow, go to red if the Klingons poke their noses in."

"Aye, sir. All decks report Condition Yellow."

"I'll be in CIC."

"Aye Sir.

USS Enterprise NCC 1701-C

Ambassador Class Heavy Cruiser

Same Time.

The bridge of the smaller Ambassador class ship lays in ruins, all around the deck burnt systems and dead bodies lay thrown around by the explosions the Romulan ships had wrought on the outnumbered Federation Starship, Sitting in the captain's chair is an injured young woman, her captain's rank showing her to be the ship's master.

"Captain Garrett?" Asked Riker

"Yes." Garrett slowly opened her eyes and took in the unfamiliar bearded face in front of her, his uniform and manner also unfamiliar to her, the comm. Badge and the fact these people seemed to be humans meant that she was more willing to be co-operative, but not by much

"I'm Commander Riker. We have emergency teams boarding your ship."

"Starfleet?"

"Yes Sir, we're here to help, Doctor?" He nodded to Beverly, Beverly approached the injured Garrett and runs a tricorder over her.

"Her leg is fractured and she has serious internal injuries, I'll have to get her back to the Enterprise, it's more than I can do here."

Garrett frowned at this, maybe her concussion was making her hear things but to the Enterprise?

"To where? She asked

"We'll explain later, Captain." Riker assured her

Garrett was getting antsy and annoyed at this, "You'll explain now, Commander.

Riker likewise was growing impatient but was much more able to hide it "We're from a Federation starship. We've answered your distress call, your ship is in good hands, but we need to get you to our Sickbay."

"Very well."

Beverly approached the injured woman and touched her comm. badge

"Crusher to Transporter Room. Two to beam directly to Sickbay."

Watching the two women beam back to the other ship, Riker left his position and returned to the salvage operations aboard the ship, Geordi is already there trying to get one of the bridge consoles to work.

"Pretty bad, Commander. Looks likethey were in a hell of a fight."

"If you can't stabilize life-support, we'll have to evacuate the ship. Riker replied

"I think we can do it. I'll have to get to Engineering."

Riker gives him a curt nod and Geordi moves toward the bridge's manual doors, it would be a hell of a climb to the functioning turbolift systems, approaching the ladder Geordi hit his badge and began the climb down to the lower decks.

"La Forge to damage control team alpha. Meet me on Engineeringlevel three."

The rest of the team began their clean up operations, the ship was still mostly intact and if they could get the bridge systems working them this old damaged ship could be of use to them, more so if they could find out what happened to the ship at Narendra three, however their musings are broken into by a noise.

From one of the collapsed bulkheads to the side a sound of metal against metal could be heard by the fleet members, approaching quietly and with deliberate stealth, Tasha moved quickly to the wall section Riker motions to her to stand by, together the two of them manage to move the wall section away from the wall

As Tasha's Phaser comes up Riker approaches the damaged bulkhead and grabs a flailing arm, the arm comes away with another man attached to it

"Thanks..." The younger man says shaking his head, he looks at Tasha and Riker their unfamiliar garb a slight shock to the battle-wounded officer, Riker looks the man over and nods to him.

"I'm Commander Riker, Starfleet."

"Lieutenant Richard Castillo. Helmsman USS Enterprise." The Enterprise C crewmember says

"Your Captain has been sent back to the Ent--... back to our ship, You would appear to be the senior officer left aboard."

Castillo looked around at the destroyed Bridge, the bodies having long since been removed by the rescue teams, he merely nodded and let out a deep breath staring at the two people in front of him, he merely shrugged.

"So it would appear."

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

Federation Galaxy Class Battleship

One hour later.

The flashing lights of the ship's yellow alert belied the tension on the bridge of the starship, the fact that a ship of their lineage now sat only a few hundred meters from their own vessel, found after thirty odd years was overwhelming for even the most hardened of the military minded soldiers aboard her

The bridge as always was completely staffed, the Galaxy class warship's over staffed bridge crew was more than necessary during the conflict they were embroiled in, the fact that many ships were lost due to insufficient staffing of the bridge after taking a hit or the inability to reroute the systems as they were damaged had changed things in the latest fleet designs.

For the Galaxy class ships a number of rerouting and damage control systems were added to the rear of the bridge, the original design had been put together as a science ship albeit one of immense size, the science stations had been changed mid design and allowed the Galaxy class to more efficiently repair damaged systems something that had allowed the entire Galaxy fleet to stay intact even during the heavy warfare the Federation was embroiled in.

From his position at the operations console, the ship's First officer, Data looked up from his most recent tactical simulations and designs, weapons and ship creations that he hoped could help against the Klingon's ships, he tapped his panel and turned to his commanding officer.

"Away team reporting in, sir."

Picard stood up and nodded to the android, "On screen, Mister Data, Go ahead, Commander."

On the screen Riker appeared his uniform slightly messy and his hair slightly out of his regulation style, however the bridge crew could see why, several Enterprise C crewmembers were intact and assisting the D's crew.

"We've stabilized life support, Captain. Mister La Forge is working on restoring the mainpower couplings but it'll take time. Things are a real mess over here." Riker said

"Survivors?"

"One hundred twenty-five, sir."

"Recommendation?"

"I'd hate to scrap her, sir. Starfleet could certainly use another ship, even if it is a little old.

"Agreed. But we can't stay in this area too long. You have two hours to do what you can, if you can get her engines online or in any way rig her for towing do so, If not, we'll evacuate the survivors and scuttle the ship."

"Understood, sir, Riker out."

The screen blanked out as the connection cut replacing the damaged bridge of the Heavy Cruiser with a picture of the equally damaged external view of the Enterprise C, the damage while extensive might be repairable, and to the people of the fleet that ship might well be a godsend.

"Sir?"

"Mr Crusher."

"Sir I've received a reply from Starbase Five Zero Five as to the synchronisation of the ship's systems, sir the rift must have affected a larger area we've lost over six hours."

"Which explains why the Klingons are so close."

"Yes Sir and I think it's dissipating, enough that it is no longer affecting the ship at all."

"The rift's gone?"

"I don't know sir the Interference is too high."

"Understood, keep me apprised on the Enterprise C's condition."

"Aye Sir." Said Wes

"Aye Sir." Replied Data.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

Lower Decks

Three hours post fissure.

Across the entire sickbay dozens of men and women were working over the bodies of those critically injured from the attack on the Enterprise C, many more were propping up against walls and on the floors of the corridors outside the sickbay, the cargo bays were full of supplies and troops for the reinforcement of the Betazed lines while the secondary sickbay had not been fully repaired after the last attack had gutted it.

However the most unfortunate of all was the pure number of dead bodies that were now being stacked up like firewood in the ship's morgues, more were still being brought into the sickbay for identification and processing.

"Doctor, the last few of the bodies are coming in." Nurse Ogawa told Crusher.

"Very well, have the corpsmen continue the identification, have the first batch taken to process control."

"Yes ma'am."

The Enterprise as a front line vessel had rarely received resupplies or even any form or replacement personnel, fortunately the ship's crew was overstaffed with the transport of Marines and MACOs allowing many of the lost positions to be refilled by the well trained if inexperienced officers.

While on front line duty the Starfleet ships would have to ration their systems, matter and energy usage at all times, their inability to stay in orbit of any one planet for excavation to increase their ship's matter supply usually led to any and all forms or matter reclamation, from the destroyed components to bodily waste.

Like many of Starfleet and the Federation as a whole the Enterprise had to be self sufficient to a point, this allowed the mobile fleet assets to continue combat even when no form of resupply was readily available.

For this to happen the Starfleet ships from time to time had to reuse destroyed components and anything else they could to turn back into the basic elements that may be needed by the combat replicators, now for the first time in a while the Enterprise–D was able to resupply using readily available supplies.

As un-nerving and as un-palatable to most processing was a necessary evil of the universe in which they found themselves.

The first several dozen bodies were transported from the morgues by a number of security officers and Starfleet MACOs that were for the moment not undergoing drills or security checks, each group were pushing a number of anti gravity carts towards the rear of the ship, each cart weighed with a number of bodies.

They headed through more doors and down a number of decks, with the ship at minimal power usage at this time they were forced to manhandle the carts into the cargo sized turbolifts and down the ramps leading to the lower decks, Processing was just one of the large rooms on the bottommost deck of the ship close to the matter feed for the replication systems.

The double doors at the end of the hallway opened at the approach of the guards, the large room ahead more than roomy enough for them all to get into without problems, inside a single man was awaiting them, he looked up from his replicated book and looked over the mass of antigravs and people struggling through the doors.

The man was in fact the co-creator of the processing systems now found on all Starfleet ships no matter the size, he merely looked up bored and went back to the book only looking up again when a very familiar pair of hands began working his shoulders.

"Alyssa, nice to see you again."

"Reg, the bodies are all yours."

"Thanks, what's the count?"

"Around five hundred or so, you'll be busy."

"Get all the necessary stuff from them?"

"Internal organs, blood, eyes, most of the usable body parts were removed, the rest is for you to deal with."

"What about the rest, uniforms, com badges etc?"

"They've been diverted to Quartermasters stores, they'll go into the replicator matter storage from there."

"Thanks, this will be hard enough as it is."

"Ok Reg, see you later?" she smiled

"Count on it." he smiled back, he winked at her and went back to work.

One by one the mechanical arms of the bay took each of the bodies to the replicator systems and broke them down to single molecules transferring the entire lot to the engineering and tactical replicator matter storage, none to the consumables however, none of the sentients aboard would willingly eat anything replicated from former living matter like this.

Lets get this done and quickly, Reginald Barclay thought to himself If Alyssa's unavailable there's always that attractive nurse, whatever her name is, Diana or something.

Starfleet Monitor Station Beta Two Nine

Remains of Betazed

The Starfleet Monitor Station was a station design based loosely on the Regula class science station, small and hidden by a combination of the station's ECM system and positioning the Monitor stations were all but impossible to see unless they wanted to be, these bases were scattered throughout the sectors surrounding the borders of the Federation and it's immediate inner sectors.

The Monitor stations had been designed to find and continue to monitor large scale movements by the Klingons during the war, some had been discovered as the Klingons had pushed into the Federation sectors while others still operated clandestinely behind those lines assisting the Starfleet forces where possible.

Station Beta-29 was nestled close to one of the largest pieces of the Asteroid belt in the former Betazed system, the most unfortunate thing about the station's placing there was the fact that up until ten years ago there had been no asteroid belt in this system, the belt was the remaining few chunks of rock and material that had once been the home to the Betazoid race.

Ten years ago a single suicide strike by the Klingons had pierced the outer borders of the Federation and into the inner planets, more than forty Klingon ships of the line and close to fifty escorts had been wiped out in the charge through space, it had been an attack that was doomed to fail but it had also been one that had succeeded as well.

While all ninety ships had been wiped out it had been found that they were all crewed by old men and cripples, flying ships out of date and all but falling apart due to age or damage, however they had done their job.

The last of the fleet had been a single new and advance Vor'Cha Class Cruiser armed with a new style weapon based on the use of protomatter, the advanced ship's powerful weapons and defences had cut through Six of the Federation's most powerful ships with minimal damage before making it's way to Betazed and ramming the surface.

Before the vessel had completely exploded the bomb had been released away from the cruiser and detonated one mile above Betazed's capital city, it had been the stroke of the planet's midnight as the bomb exploded.

The planet, the seventh fleet of three hundred ships plus a number of civilian and refugee ships, defence platforms, the refinery stations, refuelling stations packed with antimatter and deuterium, resupply stations and ship construction yards all orbiting the lush planet or slightly further out at the Lagrange points of Betazed were destroyed by the shattering of the planet.

Sixteen Starfleet ships and a single civilian ship survived the massacre of Betazed.

Of the six thousand survivors on those ships, more than five thousand took their lives.

Elsewhere less than Twenty Thousand Betazoids survived, the Psychic Scream shattering their minds.

Now however the Monitor station sat in the ruins of the planet the radiation and heat given off by the gradual cooling of the planet's shattered ruins, the combination of the radiation and heat meant that the station's shields were active full time as was the internal safety systems incorporating internal fields and thickened anti radiation plating.

Beta 2-9 was all but invisible to the outside universe, the high radiation made them invisible to normal sensors while the heat and light from the cooling sections of the planet's core blocked the rest.

The station's own defensive systems were formidable for the station's size, shields and armour thicker and stronger than most Starbases combined with a rapid fire phalanx of Heavy Phaser arrays, older style cannons and a mass of linked uprated torpedo launchers made the Monitor stations a threat not to be underestimated.

However this monitor station had gone dark, with the front lines of the war a mere light year or so from their position they could not risk detection, it was fortunate that their own sensors while somewhat compromised by the radiation from the planet were still capable of scanning the sector they were seconded to.

From the closest Klingon sector base an attack squadron of Klingon Birds of prey were heading into the Federation lines, cloaking they dropped to impulse and broke through the sensor scans across the border, the monitor station made a note and continue watching the clearly visible scans as the Klingons continued into the system coming out the tachyon sweeps and disappearing.

"Klingon ships off the scope sir."

"Wait twenty minutes and send a signal pulse to all stations, second Klingon force approaching Enterprise sector, advise all ships converge on the Klingons."

"Aye sir."

Their jobs continuing the monitor station sat and awaited the next infiltration of their lines and the consequent battles that would form.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

Federation Galaxy Class Battleship

One hour Later.

The Red Alert sirens blared as the ship's computers processed a signal from one of the closer Monitor stations, shields went online as the rest of the ship began lockdown procedures, crew ran to their positions as the computer began diagnostics across the board, on the bridge the remaining on board senior officers had arrived.

"Report Commander." Picard ordered.

"Captain, we have received a report that another patrol of heavy Birds of Prey have entered the sector, they are two hours behind the first patrol, that patrol is less than an hour away, Yamato battlegroup is four hours from rendezvous."

"Hail the Away team." Picard couldn't bring himself to say 'Enterprise' the Enterprise was his ship now.

"Riker here." A disembodied voice said.

"Number one, time's up status report."

"Sir the Impulse engines and SIF are active, the ship's warp nacelles are partially functional, enough to get her up to warp three, faster if she's towed by the Enterprise, ship is structurally sound with a few cracks in her outer hull, weapons and shields are down, she's intact sir, a refit would bring her up to working status, she's worth taking sir."

"Very well number one, have Mr LaForge ready that ship for towing."

"Aye Sir, Away team out."

"Mr Data co-ordinate with that ship's crew to link the two ships, bring her into our warp field and lock tractor beams."

"Aye sir."

"Mr Crusher once we are ready to move, get us out of here, Warp Eight."

"Aye Sir." The teenage genius began typing in his course corrections, they would be out and away with time to spare, Picard left the bridge for his office.

"Commander?"

"Ensign."

"What do you think about this sir?"

"The Enterprise C?"

"Yes Sir."

"It is intriguing, however the ship will be useful in the war effort against the Klingons, the refit Ambassador class ships are very capable heave warships, second only to Galaxy and Nebula class lineage."

"Lets hope we can get her back to Starbase Two Thirteen."

"The Klingon ships are capable of Warp Eight, even towing the Enterprise C we will be able to go Warp Eight Point Five, we will be able to avoid the Klingons in order to rendezvous with the Yamato task group and our own squadron."

Yes Sir."

USS Enterprise NCC 1701-C

Ambassador Class Heavy Cruiser

Twenty minutes later.

The Enterprise C's bridge was still, the damage evident but much of the damaged ship's systems bypassed and the destroyed bridge sections beamed away by the Ambassador Class ship's own transporters, strangely still online while everything else was dead.

The streaks on the wall from the smoke and explosions were the most obvious of the damage, however the main controls at the ship's helm and tactical stations were still functioning, lastly the captain's chair and consoles were still intact allowing the ship's senior most officer to have a lookdown of his ship.

"2366?"

"Yes, the year is 2366." Tasha said

"How the hell did that happen?" Castillo demanded

"Seems the Enterprise C was caught in some kind of time rift and you were sent thirty years into your future, right in front of our ship."

"Another Enterprise?"

"Enterprise D, Galaxy Class Battleship."

"I remember reading some very early requests for a design based on the next generation of ships for the fleet, bigger than even the Ambassadors and armed and armoured accordingly, that is if the fleet could get the design past the idiots on the council."

"It almost didn't, only the war with the Klingons allowed the fleet to start building warships anyway."

"Yeah I noticed, I know warships were not really liked by the Council but I never agreed on the reduced capabilities of the Fleet anyway, hell one of the first generation Excelsiors were better of as combat ships than most of our fleet were."

"Not so with some of our ships, the Galaxies, Nebulas and Akiras are holding the line and well too."

"Big ships?"

"Heavily armed." Tasha grinned, "Both classes carry around a dozen or more torpedo launchers, the Akiras the smaller but the Nebulas are capable of swapping out systems with the Galaxies and New Orleans Refit ships makes it easier on logistics."

"Damn, that's a lot of firepower."

"Yeah, fortunately we've got better torpedoes as well or we wouldn't have a chance."

"That bad."

"Sometimes we get a good hit in sometimes they do, it's pretty much a stalemate at this point."

"Lets hope this old thing can help she's only a few years old." Castillo looked at the blonde officer

"I think she will." Tasha said honestly.

Their discussion was interrupted by the chirping from both Tasha's tactical console and Richard's helm console, the two both tied into the communications systems in case either were called off of the bridge, a quick check by the senior Lt allowed him to see the message was from the 'other' Enterprise, keying the channel open he responded.

"This is E-C to E-D, we read you."

"Lt Castillo? Where is Commander Riker?" Asked the Android's voice.

"He's in Engineering trying to sort out an increase in structural integrity for the damaged hull section, if we can't we're not moving."

"Understood, Enterprise is ready to take you under tow when ready."

"Got that E-D, all other systems are ready for use, we may be able to set a low level subspace field to lighten us for towing by your ship, it will allow you to use less power to tow us and allow us to move faster and without too much undue strain on the SIF, will this be necessary?"

"Affirmative Lt, this will allow us to increase speed marginally."

"Understood, as soon as we lock down the damaged hull areas we'll activate the subspace field, be ready to take us under tow."

"Understood, Enterprise- D out."

"Well that's that." Richard said.

"We better move it we're less than forty minutes before the Klingons arrive."

"How do you know that they will be here that quickly?"

"Classified for the moment, sorry Lt."

Richard merely shrugged and turned back to his helm console.

"Alright, the Impulse engines are at about eighty percent, slight burn out of some of the systems when we went to ram, shields are still offline but we've managed to rearm the rear torpedoes and the dorsal arrays at fifty percent."

"Not bad for an old lady." Tasha said.

"Nothing old about this ship, she's still in her prime."

"Bridge this is engineering."

"This is the Bridge."

"Lt we've had to reroute power from the life support systems and from the Phaser systems, the ship's ready to go."

"Thank you Sir, hang on this might be a little rough."

The Enterprise C slowly began to move under her own power, her Impulse engines lightening as power was fed into the systems, a slight burst of power and the vessel was finally moving, on the bridge and in engineering the remaining men and women aboard the ship were grinning from ear to ear as an old lady of the fleet once again began to dance.

"E-D this is E-C."

"C this is D, go ahead."

"This old lady is ready to go Commander, say the word and we'll bring her in line."

"Go ahead Lt, we're ready to lock up."

"Coming in."

The Enterprise C moved in close to the small 'cut' in the Enterprise's rear, something that all ships in the Constitution through to Galaxy Lineage seemed to have, as they approached the Ambassador class ship's engines cut out and the ship merely coasted to it's position.

From a point close to the rear of the Galaxy class vessel's battle section a glowing series of beams attached themselves to the saucer of the other ship, the powerful artificial graviton beams held the other ship firmly in place slowing the ship and pulling it into place behind it's larger sister ship, finally stowed the rest of the Enterprise C's systems shut down.

Everything bar the ship's engines powered down leaving the ship a dark mass with only a dull blue of it's damaged warp nacelles highlighting that the ship was still under power, the nacelles flashed to full power for a second before returning to the duller blue of standby.

Aboard both ships sensor systems notified their users that the ship's subspace field was operational and being fed from the ship's reserve Impulse and fusion reactors, the warp core now returned to offline status.

"Captain." Data said, "The Enterprise C is in position, tractor beams are locked, all systems are ready for high speed and extended tractor use."

"Engage at Warp Eight Mr Crusher, take us to the Yamato battlegroup, then the fleet yards."

"Aye Sir.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

"_**I'd never join a club that would have me as a member.**_

**_USS Yamato NCC-71807_**

_**Federation Galaxy Class Battleship**_

_**Yamato Battle Group**_

_**Two hours later.**_

The USS Yamato sped through warp speed accompanied by its enhanced battle group, another Galaxy class battleship the Yamato was almost identical to its sister ship Enterprise, only the slight increase in the Yamato's armour during it's last refit allowed any acknowledgement of the differences between the ships.

Like many ships in the fleet the Galaxy class warship no longer carried any form of external identification, where it's name and registration would be so proudly shown in another time and universe nothing but blank hull adorned the surface of the ship.

The Yamato came out of warp in an uncontested sector close to the front lines, their sensor systems constantly scanning for any sign of Klingon incursions in their lines. Since the messages had come through from the Betazed monitor station there had been no sign of the Klingons at all.

The rest of the battle group had come out of warp all around her, some damaged and some intact, fortunately for both the Yamato and the Enterprise none of the ships had been lost in the convoy attack.

The massed torpedo attacks from their escorts combined with the powerful enhanced Phasers of the Galaxies had allowed the enlarged battle group to cripple or destroy the entire Klingon convoy plus it's escorts. In all more than thirty armed freighters and container ship plus it's fifteen ship escort had been caught flat footed and blown apart in only an hour of combat.

The Yamato herself had taken damage from the attempted ramming of it's saucer by an old style K'tinga class vessel, the Klingon ship had tried to crash into the bigger ship only to be blown apart by the speedier escorts of the battle group.

The rest of the group had had a field day against the enemy ships; the destruction of the smaller and less powerful escorts had allowed the federation vessels to beam away the cargoes of the convoy and then blow the ships out of space.

The attack over the battle group had retreated at the notice that reinforcement battle groups from the Klingon side of the lines were closing in, the signals from the monitor stations received the entire group went to warp and back into their own lines.

Aboard the Galaxy class warship the crew were at their stations, even with the border several light years behind them didn't mean they weren't followed or could have the enemy somewhere in the area, at his station Captain Donald Varley perused the latest tactical reports from the other sections of the third fleet.

Each of the sections of the third fleet were dispersed over half light year overlapping sections of this area of the border allowing them to call upon each other if needs be, however two sections had merged to allow the attack and would soon separate and return to duty.

"Captain?"

"What is it XO?"

"Message from the Enterprise Sir, they are ten minutes from contact and apparently they have brought a visitor,"

"What kind of visitor?" Varley asked intrigued.

"They don't say sir, just that it won't interfere with the changeover."

"I see, keep me informed."

"Aye sir, another message from the Monitor station as well sir a third group of enemy ships have cloaked and entered our space."

"That's nine of those monstrosities, do they know where they are headed?"

"The first six were heading for the Enterprise's patrol point, they believe all nine may be headed for this rendezvous, however they are thirty minutes, one hour and three hours out."

"However if we separate from the Enterprise task force those ships may be able to do some damage to us."

"And keeping together leaves two of our most powerful battleships in one place as well as a number of heavy cruisers."

"They know it's a suicide mission, we outgun them and outnumber them, any that escape would be destroyed before leaving our space."

"Yes sir, but they may be willing to risk it to destroy us and the Enterprise, it would put a hole in the defences in this sector."

"Contact the Enterprise, tell them we're ready to receive them, order all ships to yellow alert, order the Ajax and the Exeter to point all other ships overlapping formation leave a gap for the Enterprise, Achilles and Jervis Bay to the centre leave room for mutual phaser coverage."

"Aye sir."

Around the massive battleship the sixteen ships of the task force entered their formation, two of the forces eight Akira class ships took point above and below the other ships their fores pointing towards the anticipated vector of the Enterprise while six of the eight escorts closed in between the heavy cruisers and the battleship protected by the immense firepower of the nine ships.

The two remaining and damaged Norway class vessels entered into the formation settling in close to where the two Galaxy class vessel's saucer sections would be once the enterprise arrived both kept safe by the immense bulk and power of the battleships.

From the eight Akiras a full wing of forty-eight Valkyrie class fighters launched from each of their cavernous hanger bays, forming up into the areas not covered by their command ships the groups settled in to wait for the Enterprise and with any luck the first wave of Klingon ships.

"All ships in place sir." The tactical officer said

"Time to Enterprise."

"Two minutes sir, Enterprise is on sensors moving at warp eight, strange."

"Lt?"

"The Enterprise seems to be towing something sir, whatever it is it's big."

"How big?"

"Capital ship sized sir can't get a decent reading the Enterprise's ECM and warp fields are interfering with our scans, forty five seconds to intercept."

"All ships, red alert bring all weapons and defences to standby, as soon as the Enterprise arrive standard IFF and pass checks, anything is wrong destroy them."

"Aye Sir."

Across the fleet Phaser arrays and torpedo launchers warmed up, their systems locked onto the incoming Galaxy class warship's exit vector, one false move and over a hundred torpedoes as well as dozens of Phaser beams would impact on the warship erasing it from existence.

From the darkness in front of the fleet space warped and settled as the newly arrived Federation warship settled into position in front of the allied fleet, behind it the assemble battle group could see the visage of a badly damaged warship.

"Sending IFF and passcode demands sir."

"Good, operations can you identify that other ship?"

"She's an Ambassador class sir No IFF beacon, standard for front line units sir."

"Response sir." Tactical said.

"And?"

"IFF flash indicates Enterprise sir, imbedded codes in IFF as current, passcodes verified it's them sir."

"All ships stand down to yellow alert, keep weapons and sensors to maximum."

"Aye sir, Sir we're being hailed it's Captain Picard."

"On Screen."

The viewscreen activated slightly brightening the dark bridge, the large visage of the Enterprise's veteran captain filling the screen, nodding to the man Varley greeted the other man.

"Captain Picard."

"Captain Varley, how did the mission go?"

"As well as could be expected, one or two of the ships got a dent."

"Good to know, we found something interesting on patrol though, you may want to transport over as soon as possible."

"Indeed, however it may have to wait, we believe that the Klingons have sent over three waves of their monstrous Birds, we also believe they were tracking you here."

"We knew of two waves but not the third, how long?"

"If they wait for the third wave three hours, if not fifty minutes."

"Damn."

"Take position with the rest of the fleet, we don't know what's coming and we have sufficient numbers and weapons to take them on."

"We have a problem with that, the ship we're towing is damaged and is not combat worthy at this point."

"Is it of any real use?"

"With a decent refit yes, she's an Ambassador class type one."

"Another heavy cruiser could be of help, alright, we have two damaged Norways in the fleet we'll detach them to stand guard with her at the centre of the formation."

"There's more Don she's the Enterprise-C."

All movement on the bridge of the Yamato stopped dead as the information seeped into the brains of the crew, some of them looking at each other and others at the screen none more so than the captain.

"Are you sure Jean-Luc?"

"Very sure, we've checked her over and she's more than spaceworthy but she's badly damaged."

"The C disappeared over thirty years ago."

"I know, she was found drifting close to the border, this is something you will need to come over to the Enterprise to talk about. After we deal with the Klingons."

"Understood, we'll be ready Yamato Out."

The screen blinked off in time to see the Enterprise leave its position towing the damage starship behind her, the warships of the assembled war group broke formation slightly to allow the Enterprise into the group.

The two Norways broke formation to settle on either flank of the damaged vessel taking the Ambassador class vessel under tow themselves and allowing the Enterprise to redirect power to the more necessary systems. The Enterprise settles in below and to the port flank of the Yamato allowing the other ship to take the command of the battle group, it's CIC still set up for fleet combat with the assembled ships.

Aboard the Yamato the systems were reset to allow for the inclusion of the newly arrive battleship, it's immense firepower now attached to the readout designating combat sectors to each ship.

The Enterprise settled in and powered up it's weapons systems and shielding diverting power from those systems that had been used to allow the battleship to tow the not inconsiderable bulk of her predecessor.

**_USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D_**

_**Federation Galaxy Class Battleship**_

_**Yamato Battle Group**_

"All decks report battle ready captain, boarding parties to standby at all transported bays, all non essential areas and decks have been shut down and power diverted to the EPS system we are at full red alert." Data reported.

"Good, Mr Yar weapons status?"

"Main phasers at maximum power, primary and secondary warp cores are tied into the weapons and shields, all Torpedo launchers set to rapid fire mode, all secondary systems are set for immediate cut in."

"Very well."

"Captain." Data said, " Message from the Yamato, Klingon wave one has not attacked Captain Varley expresses his belief that they will await group two before attacking, all ships are to stay at Red Alert."

"Signal Acknowledgement Commander."

"Aye sir."

"Status on the Ambassador Class ship?"

"Stationary at ten thousand kilometres beneath us, she is flanked by two Norway class frigates, reading indicate that secondary power has been brought fully online as has many of the secondary systems. Message coming from the ships Sir It's Commander Riker."

"On Screen, Commander Status?"

Riker appeared on screen he was still on the Enterprise-C's bridge with several crewmen working on the systems. One man with the burgundy jacket of the C's crew was assisting with the repairs to his ship, the engineering crew willingly listening to the man due to his rank and his knowledge of the ship's systems themselves.

"Sir the ship's secondary power systems have been reactivated as has primary life support, all structural integrity and inertial fields have been reset and brought to maximum, however main shields and warp drive are now completely down. The good news is that the main saucer phaser arrays have both been reactivated at eighty percent power and the rear torpedo launchers are at full capacity."

"Well done Commander."

"Thank you sir, the surviving crew members of the ship's crew have been of help, orders sir?"

"Contact Captain Varley for combat orders Commander, however keep that ship intact or if you can't get off her and let the Klingons destroy her."

"Aye Sir, Riker out."

"Commander Data, status of transfer?"

"All the ship's logs have been transferred to our own computers, scientific and tactical data are insufficient for our use as they are thirty years out of date."

"What do the logs say?"

"The ship was indeed attacked by the Romulans at Narendra III twenty two years ago, four of their warbirds attacked and crippled the Enterprise C." Data brought up the information on the main viewscreen, "I believe it was a test against the Klingons in order to find out the capability of their newest ships and defensive systems."

"Such as their cloaks."

"Indeed Sir, the Enterprise-C was unable to see through the cloaks of the Romulan ships, however they were able to destroy one of the vessels while crippling another before being overcome."

"So their attempt on the Klingons was an exercise and the other ship got in the way?"

"Yes Sir, obviously the attack was a failure as the Romulans not only had surprise but numbers on their side, the loss of half of the attack force would not have been seen as any form of success."

"Then why didn't the Klingons find anything from the battle, debris from the Romulan or federation ships."

"Unknown sir, there should have been something found by the investigators."

"Copy the information and ready it for immediate transmission to Earth and to Starbase 211."

"Aye Sir."

_**IKS Kal'eth**_

_**Klingon Battle Group**_

_**One light year away**_

_**One hour later.**_

"My lord."

"Speak."

"The Second wave of vessels has arrived, the patrol's Captain wishes to speak with you."

"I shall take it in my quarters."

"At one my lord."

The large Klingon warrior left his chair and exited the bridge, as he walked warriors stopped what they did and saluted the man as he passed, ignoring the actions of his crewmembers the hefty man entered his quarters and sealed the door.

"Computer." He growled. "Access communications systems and receive transmission."

The screen activated showing the equally broad and angry face of another Klingon.

"Qa'pla brother."

"It is good to see you again Kurn."

"You too Worf."

"Who did you annoy this time to be stuck on this detail?"

"I told Duras' son what I thought of him."

"You should be careful Kurn, Duras is powerful."

"As are we my brother, the house of Worf is trusted and beloved by the people of the empire, Duras will not try anything against us."

"That is if we survive this attack." Worf said

"The Federation ships are pitiful compared to our Birds of Prey." Kurn countered

"Take warning my brother, we may be defeating this federations Starfleet at the moment but they have numerous powerful and worthy ships we may be hard pressed to defeat them."

"They cannot defeat the great Klingon Empire my brother."

"Perhaps not but they may be able to bleed us white."

"The destruction of their border worlds have cowed them, they are constantly retreating against our forces, we have more ships whilst they lose those they cannot replace."

"Are you sure of that Kurn?"

"It is said by the council that we are close to victory."

"Yes as we get closer to their inner sectors they will have less space and many more ships to protect their territory.

"Then we will destroy them in droves and continue on into their space and destroy the entire Federation."

"What then?"

"What do you mean?"

"After destroying the federation, what will be next?" Worf asked his brother.

"I still do not understand."

"The Federation have been both our allies and our enemies, we destroy them we have neither, our people and fleets will be exhausted by the war, too much to pacify every planet the Federation ahs under the belt."

"We destroy those planets that do not conform to our wishes."

"Destroy billions more than the billions already dead by our actions, no brother I believe it will be us that will take the most loss I this war."

"You cannot believe that Worf."

"I don't know Kurn, I hope we can destroy the Federation or is not make them surrender and join the Empire."

"Indeed, the humans can fight with the spirits of the old Klingons, General Kor's orders have been to study our enemy and watch how they fight, indeed they fight well few other races would fight so hard and so long against us, an empire where Human and Klingon war alongside each other would be a glorious one."

"We will see."

"We have the latest information from our spy station along the borders, the Enterprise has met up with another of their formidable battleships."

"Which one?"

"We do not know, however intelligence says it could only be only three of the known ships, the Missouri, the Yamato or the Hood, although even those names are suspect."

"What do we know of these ships?" The elder brother asked

"As with all their battleships we know little, each are responsible for the loss of more than a dozen of our ships each, they and the escorts have been able to hold entire sectors where many groups had not been able to before. The Hood is the latest of these ships to be brought here, however we do not know where she was sent, there were no markings on her hull according to our spy network."

"They are changing their ways of fighting."

"They could be anyone or anywhere, we might never know what the ship is."

"No we might not." Worf said. "Continue sensor scans, we shall await the last of our ships and then attack."

"As you order brother."

"Qa'pla Captain."

"Qa'pla Commodore."

The viewscreen died as the signal cut off from Kurn's ship, satisfied that they merely had to await the arrival of their fellow ships Worf turned to his computer and brought up the scant information they had about these new battleships of the Federation and how his small fleet would destroy them.

CIC Deck 

**_USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D_**

_**Federation Galaxy Class Battleship**_

_**Yamato Battle Group**_

The Enterprise floated gentlyin space, it's calm exterior belying the constant movement and tension of the crew that inhabited it's metal structure, the crew merely awaited an attack that was inevitably coming most knowing that they would be the primary target when the Klingons arrived.

Sometimes being the Flagship can have a down side.

Deep in the battle section of the warship was a secondary command centre, unlike the main bridge or even the battle bridge of the battle section this command section was responsible for much more than simply control ships functions.

The CIC or Command Information Centre was a two deck section dedicated to battle command and Information and intelligence gathering from multiple sources, designed around the idea that the massive ships would be the lynchpin of any sufficiently sized group of combat ships the CIC could coordinate entire fleets.

For the moment however the majority of the CIC's systems were in use simulating any attacks that may come from the Klingons or going through the data garnered from the Enter prise C's computers.

In the middle of the room dominating the entire deck stood a massive holographic map, the map could be programmed to show the immediate area or anything in the ship's navigation systems allowing for simulations to be programmed in and played or to allow for past actions to be replayed, the main use was to coordinate the battle groups that may be attached to the Enterprise.

However for the moment the majority of the CIC personnel were watching the battle of Narendra Three from over twenty years previously, the shock was apparent on the faces of all as they watched the four Romulan warbirds attack the civilian outpost and then cripple their comrades.

The last of the data recorded before the ship was sent through the portal played out as the view of over a dozen Photon torpedoes hit the Federation ship, the screen went white and then blanked out.

"The Romulans attacked and destroyed the Klingon outpost at Narendra twenty years ago, however there was no sign of any debris from wither the Romulan ships or from the damaged Federation ship involved." Picard said standing above the gathering on the second deck's balcony.

"In addition we already know that this is one of the few incidents that pushed the Klingons to war with the Federation, the destruction of the outpost and the fact that no Federation vessel in the area came to help destroyed what little good will still existed, the destruction of Khitomer a few years later was the last straw. Commander Kingston."

From beside him the commander of the CIC, a bald dark skinned man walked up next to the Captain, he activated the hologram system once again and began speaking his cultured English accent almost identical to that of the Captain's.

"The arrival of the USS Potemkin after the attack with weapons armed led the Klingons to believe that the Federation had attacked and destroyed their station at Khitomer, combined with the fact that they believed that the Federation had had something to do with the attack on Narendra pushed them over the edge. However with the information we have gathered from the Enterprise C's sensor data the Romulan Empire destroyed Narendra however it seems that the time travel event shifted the C some twenty years into it's future leading it to it's successor, this ship."

"What we do not know is how and why this has happened and as such we shall be taking the Enterprise C to the nearest docks and try to make sense of everything that has happened, more than anything we need to keep both this ship and the C intact and capable until that time. All personnel are to continue with the simulations, that is all." Kingston finished.

"Dismissed." Said Picard.

"What do you think Sir?"

"About what Commander?"

"About the other ship."

"I'm not sure Commander, this could all be an insanely elaborate trap, however the damage to the other ship and it's crew preclude that, I'm not sure why it's come to here and now but it must be important."

"Predestination Sir?"

"I don't believe that exists Commander, any more than I believe in the No Win Scenario."

"Then you do not believe the information coming from Starfleet Command?"

The Captain and Commander had received classified orders shortly before the Enterprise had been posted on the front; the news had not been good.

Starfleet had sent them the latest updates from the front and the news had not been good, the twelfth fleet had finally been fully recalled from the far edges of the Federation, it had taken several years to recall the entire fleet and refit them, in all one hundred and forty ships had managed to be combined into a fully capable attack fleet.

Said fleet had been unknown to the Klingons and had hoped to be one of the strikes that would hold the Klingons back long enough for the Federation to reinforce and rebuild their shattered armadas.

Led by three of the Federation's most powerful vessels, the USS Venture- Galaxy class and twin Nebulas USS Phoenix and USS Farragut the force had left Federation space and pierced the thinly defended lines at the very edge of Federation space. They had headed into Klingon space to hit anything and everything possible.

Seventy of the most advanced combat warships had been pooled with seventy smaller and older ships each fully outfitted in order to make them stronger and deadlier to the Klingons. The fleet's entire make up was a combination of power of the newest ships and numbers that could be pooled from the outer sectors.

Mirandas, Excelsiors, New Orleans and Ambassadors had been merged with Akiras, Norways and a number of other newly designed and built ship designs headed by the most powerful ships in the fleet.

However news had arrived barely two months later that the entire fleet had been lost in combat with the Klingons, all one hundred forty had been destroyed by the Klingon ships in the area a blow that Starfleet had not foreseen.

The loss of so many ships had been a blow to the plans that had been in the works, worse the three battlewagons were lost at a time when the construction schedule for more of the ships had been pushed back by supply and crew problems in the outer core sectors. While the smaller and less powerful ships were streaming out of the yards the command ships and heavier capital ships were produced in less and less numbers.

"The loss of those ships may have been one of the most damaging to the fleet in the last five years." Picard Said, "Combined with the losses taken before the heavier ships in the fleet could be sent out in numbers, this may have put another nail in the Federation's coffin."

"You could be right sir, we've lost close to half the entire fleet in this war, the ships we have are sufficient to take on multiple Klingon ships in combat but their numbers seem to be increasing not reducing no matter what we do."

"The Akiras and Nebulas are making up the shortfall however, we might be able to hold out for a while."

"Fleet Command is contemplating retreating all across the border, allow us to concentrate on a smaller area of space, build up our forces while holding the necessary areas to keep the Federation marginally intact."

"Leaving almost twenty allied planets to the Klingons, No the federation council wouldn't allow that."

"Yes Sir."

_**IKS Kal'eth**_

_**Klingon Battle Group**_

_**One light year away**_

The IKS Kal'eth had received the signal from the third wave of K'vort class cruisers as they entered the system the tight beam subspace communication brief and to the point allowing the Klingon ships to join their fellows without notice to the Federation ships.

Pulsing their versions of IFF beacons the nine ships of Commodore Worf's flotilla clustered around the command ship, the combat systems ready for battle, as the nine ships settled into position the three commanders began their conference intending to plan the destruction of their enemy.

"Ahh my old friends, it has been too long since we battle together."

"Good to see you old man."

"Not that old Kurn, young enough to thrash you in one on one."

"When this is over we shall see."

"Kurn." Wolf said shutting up his brother, "Kaath it is good to see you here with us, it has indeed been too long."

"This day shall be glorious for both our houses."

"As it should be, you have the latest information from our long range scans?"

"Yes most of their ships are heavily armed and worthy opponents, two of their prize Battleships the loss of either will make this a victory no matter the outcome. However I am puzzled by this damaged ship they seem to be guarding."

"They have been towing the vessel since they left their patrol sector several hours ago we do not know why that have or what the vessel is they are guarding however considering the fact that they have a full battle group there guarding it means it must be of some special significance to the Federation."

"Then we destroy it." Said Kurn.

"No we concentrate on the Battleships first, we destroy the other ship if we can as we leave, do not engage that ship or its escorts until we are clear of the main attack." Worf said

"Very well." Kurn growled

"The Federation forces are powerful, however they are dispersed in formation and will make easy targets, however we must destroy several of their heavy ships in order to destroy the Battleships and that will not be easy."

"They have a formidable fighter screen as well." Kaath spoke up, "Enough that it will not be easy to take on any of the federation ships in close, and we need to get in close to negate their ships torpedo advantage."

Bringing up a computer simulation of the long range scans they were making of the enemy position he singled out one of the ships, strangely shaped it looked very different to the usually saucer and nacelles design of the past years he tapped the screen and it brought up what little they knew of these ships.

"With our pulse disruptors capable of doing much damage to their ships the Federation concentrated on torpedo numbers instead of Phaser power to a scale we are unable to duplicate. These ships have been taking a large number of our larger ships out before we can get into range and we are lucky that there are only a small number of these, however these small numbers are backed up by their most powerful battleships and fast escorts something we have to take into consideration."

"What is the total number of enemy ships?"

"From continual scans they have around twenty ships including the damaged one, the normal components of a battleship group as far as we can tell."

"Several heavy ships and a number of escorts, as long as we concentrate on one flank the other ships will have to manoeuvre to attack us allowing us time on target against the Battleships." Kurn spoke up

"They outnumber us by two to one, however we have the element of surprise and heavy forward firepower, an alpha strike on each ship as we decloak should put them out of action allowing us to concentrate on each of the battleships." Worf said

"We need to split our force, three to each Battleship and three to cover against the other ships." Kurn looked to his brother.

"My patrol group will draw the fire from the enemy to give you the time you need to hit their escorts and their battleships." Kaath spoke, "Concentrated fire from you groups should destroy the escorts in short order, the Battleships will take longer you will need the extra time."

"Agreed." Rumbled Worf, "For the Empire."

"For the Empire." the others shouted.

The screens shut off as the communication terminated, pressing a button on the console he barked out orders to the bridge keying the line off as he left his quarters, outside the ship the other eight ships of the attack force broke off and rearranged their formations.

Unseen under their cloaks the wings of the Klingon warships raised to a high position much like the wings and claws of the creatures they were named for, weapons active and awaiting the power to destroy the enemies of their creators. Turning towards the system the Federation ships were awaiting them in the nine ships went to warp.

The battle would be theirs.

USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-C

Ambassador Class Cruiser

Commander Riker took a long moment to absorb his surroundings, since he had gotten on the ship it had been hectic with repair crews scurrying all about and the sparks of welding torches and clang of metal panels being removed and replaced. The ship had been cleared of the dead and wounded and was beginning to look more like an operational vessel, its scars were healing and systems began to work again.

The ship was old and outdated compared to his posting on this vessel's successor, but there was still some awe to this ship and a tiny sense of wonder which pressed him on to exploring this ship and sating his curiosity.

Starfleet didn't have many ships from this vintage left, most of the Ambassador series were long since destroyed along with the Excelsiors and Mirandas which had constructed the bulk of the Federation forces when this ship had proudly borne the flag.

Every surface had a dull grey sheen to it in contrast to the generally lighter colours used on modern ships, and the displays projected information using blue and green diagrams and text rather that the warmer tones used on the neighbouring battleships.

However beyond the superficial differences this ship wasn't all that different to the other Enterprise, its controls were much the same, it's technology was the same just a little older, and the principles that went into building and running her were the same. She was a Federation vessel, and that made her part of the fleet.

"Commander." Riker's attention was caught by Lieutenant Commander LaForge stepping through the bridge turbolift. "We've just finished up in engineering, it was a mess but we've solved most of the problems."

"Can we get main power back?" he asked.

"Not anytime soon," the chief engineer sighed. "We've patched up the warp core, happily that didn't take too long, and we've fixed the coolant system. That's where our problem comes from."

"How do you mean?"

"The system itself is fixed, the conduits and magnetic constrictors all work fine now but during the battle this ship was forced to jettison its coolant supply, they haven't got any spare."

"So your saying the system is out of juice?" Riker followed on. "Can we replicate some?"

"Not fast enough." LaForge replied. "But what we could do is siphon some off from the rest of the fleet, one or two percent from the coolant tanks on the Enterprise, I mean our Enterprise, and Yamato should give us enough to make it back to the nearest base under our own power."

"Nice work Geordi, but for now focus your efforts on defensive systems, Captain says we're going to have company."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do." LaForge headed back for the lift. "I can probably promise manoeuvring but I don't know about shields. I'll give it a try."

"Alright, if you need me I'll be talking to Captain Garrett." He smiled through his beard. "Let's see if we can give the Klingons a surprise from in here."

Rachel Garrett had been transfixed by the view from her quarters for some time, the long windows sloping down across the roof and sides of the room still mesmerising in their wide vista. She had spent a lot of her time watching her ships new namesake, a much larger and evidently more powerful design of Federation ship that had been born during this long war with the Klingons.

It was a very different vessel, and yet unmistakeably Starfleet with its common design traits and layout. At first glance she hadn't really liked the design, it looked bulky and misshapen to her eyes but slowly it was growing on her.

The rest of the fleet seemed to follow the same pattern, they were different yet still similar enough for her to recognize them as friendly ships, though they seemed much dimmer. It took her a few moments to see that they had far fewer running lights than ships of her era, these vessels did not proudly display names and ownership but remained subdued, glowering at the universe around them ready to lash out at the first instance of trouble.

These ships looked aggressive, and that was something which disturbed something inside her. From the little she had heard Starfleet was in a very tough position and was fighting hard against a massive Klingon force many times more powerful than she would have believed. Things had changed a lot and she wasn't sure how anything fitted in.

There was a knock on her door, the chime system having been overloaded in the battle.

"Come in." she allowed and the door slid open.

"I thought you'd like to see the latest status reports Captain." Riker produced a flat data pad, noticeably smaller than the ones she was used to.

"Thank you Commander." She nodded. "What is the general situation?"

"We're still working on main power, but we have a plan to restore it within an hour or two." Riker reported. "Bad news is we believe a Klingon force is on its way, that's why the fleet has assumed a defensive posture."

She took a look beyond the windows at the ships out there. "Is this a regular thing Commander?"

"The Klingon attacks?" he asked. "Yes Ma'am, happens every week or so, sometimes daily. They try and overwhelm one of our ships with surprise and numbers, but this time we've got them beat."

"You're confident of that?"

"Yes Ma'am." He nodded with a grin. "They're going up against a full battlegroup, they haven't got a chance."

"If they didn't have a chance Commander they wouldn't attack." Garrett stated. "The Klingons aren't stupid, if they're coming they think they have a chance to do damage."

"Perhaps Captain, but for them it is a matter of honour, they're committed to attack and to break off would be shameful for them."

"Klingons aren't as rigid as that Commander Riker." Garrett turned from the window. "They'll retreat if necessary, Kahless himself said there is no dishonour in retreating from an unwinnable battle."

Riker suddenly gave her a very suspicious look. "How do you know Klingon teachings?"

"I was Captain of the Federation flagship, it was my job." Garrett replied. "I can quote you from the teachings of Surak, Kahless, Marx, Toserel, Menkhet and a dozen other influential leaders from a hundred cultures. Now if you are suggesting I was close to the Klingons, then you'd be right, I took part in a number of missions working alongside Klingon ships before their isolationists started taking charge, and let's not forget the reason I am stood here is because I sent my ship in to protect Klingons." She met his gaze evenly. "But I don't work with them Commander Riker, I am a Starfleet officer and Captain of the Enterprise. That should tell you all you need to know."

Riker stood a little more rigidly, a sign of his more militant background. "Yes Ma'am."

She returned her gaze to the window. "What happened?"

"Captain?"

"What happened to the Federation?" she asked quietly. "Where did it all go?"

"The Klingons attacked." Riker said "No warning, no declaration of war they just attacked."

"All that we worked to build and protect." Garrett sighed. "How did it come to this?"

"At first we weren't sure what was happening." Riker took a more relaxed pose and settled his gait. "The sensor stations went dead, then the outposts, then a couple of starbases, all within an hour or so. The ships sent to investigate never reported in, and as more stations and patrols went black Starfleet ordered a full scale mobilisation and deployed towards the source of the attacks."

"Commander, sit down." Garrett gestured. "Go on."

"That's when they hit us hard. The Klingon navy was big, we expected that from reports of the forces massing on the Romulan border but we totally underestimated their real power. They completely overwhelmed our expeditionary forces and pushed through deep into the Federation, a blitzkrieg aimed at the core worlds themselves."

He settled down and recounted the tale, clearly it was quite hard for him.

"Worlds fell one after the other, every desperate battle we fought barely slowed them down. They deployed terrible weapons, from protomatter bombs to biological agents. We thought the attack would stall when they tried to subdue planets, but they just wiped them out from orbit and moved on. Whole planetary populations dead in hours. By the time our ships arrive the Klingons had gone. We hit their supply lines, we hit the Klingon border worlds, we tried to flank their fleets, none of it worked. They just kept right on spearing for Earth. At the last minute we pulled together enough ships to stop them, we met them head on and we killed every last murdering bastard in that fleet."

He smiled a bit at that a triumphant smile which held no true joy.

"Next few years we had to reclaim the worlds we lost, try and stabilise our shattered fleets and economies, we've never really achieved the sort of might we always thought we could have if it ever came to war."

"Why didn't we?" Garrett asked. "Our resources are far greater than the Klingons."

"They were." Riker said solemnly. "But the Klingons held a lot of our major industries for the early years of the war robbing us of an early mobilisation, and by the time we had taken back our heartlands the damage was done. We've been rebuilding, turning out ships and troops constantly, but the Federation is a shadow of what it was like when I was a kid." He looked down at the floor sadly. "The thing that most hurt us was the death toll, most of our losses happened in our first few months of combat before we organised enough to counter attack. Two thirds of the fleet were destroyed, only the newer ships really made it through those early battles, and casualties on the core worlds were astronomical, even Earth and Vulcan weren't spared."

"They hit Earth itself?" Garretts expression turned to worry.

"Yeah, not enough to do permanent damage but it was enough to hurt us badly. I was there at the time, a young kid fresh from high school in Alaska. It's not something I'll forget." His voice turned bitter. "I'll never forget."

Garrett read his expression with genuine sympathy and concern. Riker seemed a loyal and competent officer and not someone to fall prey to useless emotions. His reaction to telling the story told her a lot about the prevailing psychology of this new Federation. It wasn't hopeful, it wasn't optimistic but it was grimly determined to fight and win.

The question she most wanted to know was what Riker and his fellow officers and crew were fighting for, was it to reclaim the old Federation or simply to destroy the Klingons.

One was a positive goal, the other simple vengeance.

"And we've been fighting ever since." She half asked, half stated.

"The war goes back and forth, sometimes we're winning, sometimes we aren't." The first officer nodded. "The frontlines have been stable for years now and all our resources are going into holding the line, fighting over the old colonies."

"Our colonies?"

"They're nobodies now, no mans land." Riker answered. "Nothing but bare rock and impact craters. And graves."

"Then it becomes our job to ensure they did not die in vain."

Riker fixed the Captain with his gaze, still hinting at suspicion but unable to fault the woman's apparent sincerity. "Yes Ma'am, that we will."

"I'm sure you have duties Commander." She stood and straightened her tailored uniform jacket, as much a relic to the dead past as the beliefs she held and the ship she commanded. "As do I, please keep me informed of the developing situation and when this crisis is over I would like a full briefing from Captain Picard."

"Yes Ma'am." Riker said formally.

"I am heading for the bridge if you require me." Garrett informed.

"I'll be in engineering myself Captain." He opened the door and they both left the quarters.

"And Commander," She paused in the corridor. "One way or another, we're going to succeed in this war."

"Yes Captain, we will." Riker agreed. "One day we'll be burning Quo'nos to the ground, and the Enterprise will be leading the way."

Garrett nodded quietly, keeping her thoughts on that comment to herself. "Dismissed Commander, and thank you."

The Bridge was almost back to normal as far as Captain Garrett was concerned, some minor work continued but most of the consoles were active and the debris was cleared. A thick black scar still covered two thirds of the roof from fire damage and the view screen was still offline, but the old lady was starting to feel more like herself, and the old Captain commanding her was also beginning to feel better. It was an immense change, but the familiar surroundings were making it more bearable.

"Captain on deck!" the familiar announcement reminded her of her responsibilities.

"As you were." She commanded. "Lieutenant Castillo, Commander Riker has just briefed me on the condition of the Enterprise, did you get a full list of survivors?"

The usually confident officer seemed hesitant. "Yes Captain, the full list is on this report."

Garrett stepped into the centre of the bridge and headed for her chair, a dark blood stain colouring its back. Her own blood. She looked at the sight for a few long moments, the symbolism not lost on her before Castillo stepped up with the data.

"Thank you Lieutenant." She took it from him and sat in her chair, sitting down exactly like she would do on any day as a way to encourage the remaining crew to get back into a normal routine, if anything could be called normal anymore.

It took her far less time than she had hoped to read the survivor list. Keeping a straight face as she read the names of the dead was the hardest thing she could remember doing, names and faces she had known for years, sometimes for decades following her from ship to ship as her trusted officers and friends, now just part of a list.

"One hundred and twenty five." She said sombrely. "Barely enough to run the ship."

"Not even a quarter Ma'am." Castillo read her mind. "I don't know how we survived."

"Sensors showed no indication of temporal instability." Garrett said.

"Excuse me Captain." A feminine voice interjected. "If I may speak."

Garrett looked to her side to see a slender woman with short blonde hair and a modern uniform, one of Riker's companions.

"Lieutenant Tasha Yar." Castillo introduced. "Tactical officer on the other Enterprise."

"Go ahead Lieutenant." Garrett acknowledged.

"We've recorded instances of extreme weapons fire in certain areas of space affecting the space time continuum, in fact during the battle of Tellar the USS Rosetta disappeared from our time and reappeared seventeen minutes later directly behind the Klingon flagship." Yar grinned. "Sometimes we get lucky."

"Is it possible to go back?" Castillo wondered.

"I guess maybe." Yar said. "But you'd need to ask one of the science officers." She shrugged.

"Weapons status Lieutenant Yar?" Garrett asked a more pointed question.

"Torpedo bays have limited capacity available, and phaser banks are charging across the board." She answered. "Shields are a problem but we're working on it, hopefully we'll be ready for the Klingons."

"Thank you Lieutenant, return to your duty."

Yar stood straighter and then spun on her heels and headed for the back of the bridge leaving Garrett and Castillo to talk.

"Lieutenant Yar was giving me some recent history Captain." Castillo began.

"I heard the same from Commander Riker. Sounds like the Federation is in serious trouble."

Castillo glanced over at Yar working with three of her own crew and the last surviving tactical officer of the Enterprise-C. "At least we seem to be holding on here."

"At least." Garrett nodded. "But you've spoken to these people, you can see it in their eyes, the emptiness."

"I'd noticed something like that Ma'am." Castillo admitted. "Couldn't put my finger on it."

"They've been fighting for years, look at some of those crew members, they're barely out of school. The war has been going on for as long as they have been alive, what sort of person does that breed?"

"A hardy one Captain." Castillo replied. "I haven't seen a more determined group."

"Determined, yes." Garrett said. "But hopeful? These are people expecting to die Lieutenant, they don't think they'll see the end of the war."

"It hasn't been going well." The helm officer said. "The Federation seems to have a technology edge, but the Klingons have numbers, plus there are the Romulans to worry about."

"Romulans." Garret spat the word. "I understand they are still neutral?"

"They are from what I've heard, but they are enforcing treaty obligations, like the treaty of Algeron."

"So we can't use cloaked ships for fear of drawing in the Romulan fleet." Garrett guessed. "And they could swing the war either way."

"They claim neutrality, but there are rumours they're playing both sides." Castillo relayed. "There's a lot of bad feeling in the other crew, and right now I'd love to throttle one of the pointy eared bastards."

He lowered his voice as a Vulcan technician looked over. Castillo shrugged and looked away.

"I'm going to get some more information from our new fleet mates when the crisis is over." Captain Garrett said. "We need to understand the bigger picture if we're going to fit in."

"So we're not planning on going back?"

"I don't think so Lieutenant." Garrett shook her head. "I understand what you're thinking, and I don't like the idea of just running from the Romulans and leaving the colony at Narendra, but I don't think we'll have a chance to go back now, and we're needed here. From what I've heard an operational ship and a trained crew will be invaluable right now."

"Yes captain." Castillo resigned himself to the new reality. He was uncomfortable with this whole developing nightmare and it wasn't settling in his mind yet, the consequences of this new situation were still hazy and little understood.

What he did know however was that all his friends and most of his comrades were dead and taken to the other Enterprise. He was alone and he was out of place, only Lieutenant Yar had made an effort to see how he was coping, but now that his Captain was recovered enough to resume command he was hoping things would resume their direction.

"There's one more thing Lieutenant." She said. "It seems that after me, you are the senior officer on board the ship."

"Yes Ma'am, I guess so."

"Which means I'll be needing you to act as my new first officer." Garrett even managed a smile. "You deserve it Richard, I just wish it was in different circumstances."

"Yes Ma'am. Thank you Ma'am."

"First thing I want you to do is go through the survivors and find anyone with training to fill the bridge and engineering posts." Garrett said plainly, assuming an even but firm tone familiar to all Captains of her age. "I'll still need you on helm Lieutenant, there's no one else I know up to the job."

"Yes captain." He said not entirely sure of himself.

"This isn't the future we planned Lieutenant, in fact I think it's just about the worst thing which could have happened to the federation." Captain Garrett said quietly. "But we're here now and we have our duty as Starfleet officers to uphold the articles of the Federation and defend its citizens. That oath still stands Lieutenant, we are at war with the Klingons whether we like it or not and the next time we see a Klingon ship, then we will open fire."

"Absolutely Captain."

"The past is dead and gone Lieutenant, like a lot of friends and family. When we get back to a Starbase we'll know more and we can try and contact our love dones, but until then we are in a war zone and I need everyone alert. As First Officer you're going to have to help me motivate the crew."

"Understood Captain." Castillo kept his answers professional, turning over in his mind the new responsibility of his role.

"We're here now Lieutenant, so let's make the most of it and try to make a difference." Captain Garrett said plainly. "This is an all-new galaxy, but it's still the same Federation we're fighting for, the same people, the same ideas. And when the time comes Lieutenant, we will fight."


End file.
